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23 Jan 2012

FBI calls the shots

After the SOPA protest last week that blacked out much of the worlds internet, international raids initiated by the United States government took down one of the worlds largest cyberlocker sharing websites MegaUpload.com, clearly showing that copyright law enforcement is already too powerful.

The raids elicited a quick response from hacktivist group Anonymous, which on Friday started to take down the websites of DOJ, RIAA, Universal Music, the U.S. Copyright Office, Broadcast Music Inc, the Motion Picture Association of America, CBS and the FBI.

Anonymous supporters attacked the websites of the Department of Justice, the FBI and Universal Music Group, among others. The hacktivists used a technique called a Distributed Denial of Service to overload their targets with web traffic and effectively force them offline.

[...]

A federal court in Virginia ordered that 18 web address associated with Megaupload.com be seized. Some 20 search warrants were executed in the United States and eight other countries and about $50 million in assets were also seized.

I'm not sure why the FBI is involved at all, being that the case is between Megaupload and the privately owned companies alleging the copyright infringement. The Racketeering and Money Laundering claims are most likely in place to ensure extradition occurs.

“There are significant issues of due process,” attorney Ira Rothken said. “The government has taken down one of the world’s largest storage providers and have done so without giving Megaupload an opportunity to be heard in court.”

Rothken dismissed the government’s attempt to file criminal charges against his clients. “Many of the allegations made are similar to those in the copyright case filed against YouTube and that was a civil case….and YouTube won.”

What is most alarming about the scope of the raids is they appear to be undertaken under the clear instruction of the FBI.

The news reports quickly changed their story to say that the FBI had "requested" the raids... probably after a quick call from Washington DC... but since when was the FBI the international enforcer of the entertainment industry?